Swift Parrots are a critically endangered species of Australian Parrot.
Being critically endangered means they are as close to extinction as a species can get. No one really knows exactly how many Swift Parrots are left in the wild, but most estimates put them at under 1000 individuals.
To survive and thrive and build up their numbers, Swift Parrots obviously need two main things: old hollow bearing trees to nest in (which they do exclusively in Tasmania), and enough food to sustain them.
So what do Swift Parrots eat?
Their diet is actually very interesting because it includes aspects that aren’t really a main form of food for many other parrots.
The two main categories of food types in the Swift Parrot diet are:
- Nectar from the flowers from trees in the Eucalyptus family
- Lerp which grows on the leaves of Eucalyptus trees
So we can see that Eucalyptus trees are a vital part of the Swift Parrot lifestyle. They also need large eucalypts for nesting – which means basically everything about Swift Parrot survival is dependent on Eucalyptus habitat being protected.
